Chapter 1

The smell of roasted chicken and garlic bread filled our small apartment, a scent I had come to associate with a perfect Friday night. Liam Vance, my husband of five years, sat across from me at the dining table, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiled.

We were happy, a perfect DINK couple living a life we had designed together. No kids, no pets, just two incomes and a shared love for quiet evenings and spontaneous weekend trips.

"This is perfect, Eleanor," he said, taking a sip of his wine. "Just perfect."

I smiled back, feeling a familiar warmth spread through my chest. This was our life, our choice. And it was good.

But that night, the perfection shattered.

After dinner, as I was clearing the plates, Liam didn't get up to help like he usually did. He just sat there, staring at the polished wood of the table. His silence was heavy, unusual.

"Liam? Is everything okay?" I asked, pausing by the sink.

He finally looked up, and the smile was gone. His face was pale, his eyes filled with something I had never seen before, a deep, unsettling conflict.

"Eleanor," he started, his voice rough. "I need to tell you something."

I put the plates down and sat back at the table, a knot of unease tightening in my stomach.

"I sponsored a student," he said, his words slow and measured. "Her name is Sarah Miller. She' s from an underprivileged background."

I nodded. I knew about this. Liam was generous, and I had always admired that about him. "Yes, of course. What about her?"

He took a deep breath, his knuckles white as he gripped the edge of the table. "She' s pregnant."

The words hung in the air between us. I waited for him to continue, to explain what this had to do with us.

He finally met my eyes, his own filled with a despair that terrified me. "It' s my child, Eleanor."

The air left my lungs. My mind went blank. I could only stare at him, trying to make sense of his words. An affair? Liam? It didn' t seem possible.

"She used... she used a condom I threw away," he explained, his voice cracking. "She got my sperm from it. We never had a relationship, I swear. I never touched her."

The explanation was so bizarre, so grotesque, that I couldn't process it.

"I wanted her to have an abortion," he continued, his voice dropping to a whisper. "I told her I would pay for everything, give her whatever she needed. But she told my family."

His family. The Vances. A powerful, traditional family that valued bloodlines above all else.

"They threatened me, Eleanor. My grandfather... my father... they said the child must be kept. It' s a Vance heir."

Tears started to well up in my eyes, blurring his face. I felt a wave of nausea. He was asking me to accept this. To accept another woman' s child, his child, into our life.

"I' m so sorry," he whispered, reaching across the table for my hand, but I pulled away. "Please, Eleanor. I don' t know what else to do."

I looked at his desperate face, and all the fight went out of me. I just nodded, a single, tearful nod. I agreed.

From that day on, everything changed.

Liam, the man who once claimed he didn't like children, the man who had sworn our life together was all he ever wanted, became a different person.

He bought every pregnancy guide he could find, his nights spent reading about fetal development and infant care. He started coming home from work early, not for me, but to drive Sarah to every single one of her prenatal check-ups.

He cleared out the spare room, the one we had used as a shared office, and began meticulously decorating a nursery.

He painted the walls a soft yellow and assembled a crib with his own hands, his brow furrowed in concentration.

The tenderness in his actions was something I hadn't seen in a long time, and it wasn't for me. I felt like a ghost in my own home, watching my husband build a new life with someone else.

The final break came on a cold autumn night.

I was woken by the smell of smoke, thick and acrid. The smoke alarm was screaming, a piercing, relentless sound. I jumped out of bed, my heart pounding. The hallway was already filled with a gray haze.

"Liam!" I choked out, my eyes stinging.

I saw him in the living room, a dark silhouette against the orange glow of the flames. Sarah was there too, cowering near the door, her hands protectively over her swollen belly.

"I' m scared!" she cried, her voice high with panic.

Without a moment's hesitation, Liam scooped her up into his arms. He ran towards the front door, his focus entirely on her. He passed right by the hallway where I stood.

"Liam!" I screamed his name, my voice swallowed by the roar of the fire. "Help me, I' m in here..."

His steps seemed to falter for a fraction of a second. He turned his head, and our eyes met through the thick smoke. I saw a flicker of something in his expression, a brief struggle.

But then Sarah clutched his arm tightly. "Mr. Vance, please hurry, I' m so scared..."

"Don' t be afraid," Liam' s voice was jarringly gentle, a tone he once used only for me. "With me here, our little family will be safe."

Our little family.

Those three words hit me with a physical force. It felt like all the air was pushed out of my chest. I watched as he shielded Sarah with his body and dashed towards the exit, leaving me behind in the smoke and the heat.

Just as he disappeared through the doorway, another burning beam from the ceiling crashed down. It hit me squarely on the back, and a sharp, searing pain exploded through my body.

As my consciousness faded, my mind went back five years. It was raining heavily that day, and Liam and I had just left a restaurant after our anniversary dinner. An out-of-control truck suddenly swerved onto the sidewalk, heading straight for him. I didn't think, I just acted. I shoved him out of the way.

The impact was brutal. A sharp pain spread from my abdomen, consuming my entire body. The last thing I heard was Liam desperately screaming my name.

When I woke up in the hospital, the doctor delivered the news with a heavy voice. My uterus was severely damaged. I could never conceive a child.

On the day I was discharged, I told Liam we should break up. My eyes were red and swollen from crying. "You' re the only son of the Vance family," I told him. "You need an heir."

He had pressed me against the cold hospital wall and kissed me until I was breathless. "Eleanor, I only want you," he said, his voice fierce. "If we can' t have kids, we' ll be DINKs. I' ll handle my family."

To convince them, he had knelt in the family chapel for a day and a night, enduring ninety-nine lashes from his grandfather' s cane. His mother had cried, calling it a sin. His father had smashed three expensive teacups. In the end, his grandfather had sighed and said to let him be.

In the heat of the fire, I remembered his tear-filled eyes on our wedding day as he lifted my veil. He had whispered, "Eleanor, in this life, I only want you."

And now, he was holding another woman, talking about their "little family."

The flames consumed my last thought. Fine, then. This time, I would completely fulfill their wish. I would disappear from their little family for good.

When I woke again, the first thing I saw was the stark white ceiling of a hospital room.

"Eleanor, you' re awake."

Liam' s voice came from beside me. I turned my head slowly, every muscle aching. He was sitting in a chair by the bed, his eyes bloodshot, his brow furrowed with what looked like concern.

"Does it still hurt?" His voice was tight, and his fingers gently brushed against my cheek. "The doctor said you have minor burns and a concussion. But don' t worry, I' ve booked the entire floor and hired the best medical team. You won' t have any scars..."

I looked at his worried eyes and suddenly wanted to laugh. The man who had left me to die in a fire was now playing the part of the devoted husband. The hypocrisy was suffocating.

I opened my mouth, my throat raw and burning. "Liam, let' s get a divo-"

"Eleanor," he interrupted me, his voice suddenly urgent. He pulled a document from his briefcase and handed it to me. "Let' s get a divorce."

I froze. I was the one who was supposed to say it. Hearing it from him, even though it was what I wanted, felt like another blow.

"It' s just temporary," he said quickly, the words sounding rehearsed. "Sarah is due in a month. The child needs their biological parents' marriage certificate for the birth registration. Once the baby is born, I' ll divorce her, and then we can..."

"Remarry?" I finished the sentence for him, my voice flat. My heart felt cold and heavy in my chest.

"Exactly!" His eyes lit up, a look of relief washing over his face. "I' ve already talked to her. She' ll take the money and leave after giving birth. That child... that child will be ours, okay?"

I stared at his moving lips, a chill running down my spine. He was planning our whole future, a future built on lies and another woman' s child.

"Eleanor?" he urged, pushing a pen into my hand. "Sign it. The lawyer is waiting to process the paperwork."

I took the pen, my fingers trembling. The moment the ink touched the paper, a tear fell from my eye, landing directly on the word "Divorcee" and blurring the black ink.

Liam didn' t seem to notice. He took the signed document, his movements brisk and efficient. He leaned in to kiss my forehead, but I turned my head away. He paused for a second, then straightened up as if nothing had happened.

"Eleanor, just wait for me," he said, his voice soft again.

The door clicked shut behind him, the sound echoing in the silent room.

Wait for him? I wasn' t going to wait anymore.

I pulled the IV needle out of my arm, ignoring the small bead of blood that welled up. Dragging my aching body, I found a nurse and completed the discharge procedures.

As I was leaving, I passed the maternity ward. I heard his voice, and I stopped.

"Walk slowly, watch your step," Liam was saying, his tone so tender it was completely unfamiliar. "The doctor says the baby is developing well."

"Mr. Vance, listen..." Sarah' s excited voice came through the open door. "The baby is kicking me!"

"Let me listen." I heard the smile in Liam' s voice. "So lively, it must be a boy."

"Do you like boys?"

"I like both," he said softly. "I' ve already thought of the names. If it' s a boy, it' ll be Liam Jr. If it' s a girl, Eleanor Grace."

I leaned against the cold wall, my nails digging into my palms. The name felt like a final, cruel joke. He was naming his child with another woman after me.

I remembered that rainy night five years ago, Liam standing soaked outside my house, his eyes red. "Eleanor, no kids, no kids. I only want you," he had said. "I really don' t like children."

And now, here he was, kneeling before another woman' s belly, eagerly listening to a fetal heartbeat, with names already picked out.

Liam Vance. If you always wanted children, why did you choose me? Why did you lie to me for all those years?

I turned and walked away, my tears falling onto the polished hospital floor, each one a tiny, shattering sound.

In the taxi, I called my parents.

"Dad, Mom, I want to move abroad with you."

There was a shocked silence on the other end of the line. "What' s wrong, sweetheart? Aren' t you and Liam doing well? Did he bully you?" my mother asked, her voice filled with concern.

My throat tightened. "No... I just don' t love him anymore," I said softly. "So, we' re parting ways."

After hanging up, I gave the driver a new address. The taxi stopped outside the immigration office.

"I want to process immigration paperwork," I told the clerk, handing over my documents. "And I also want to cancel all my domestic information."

The clerk looked up from her screen, her expression serious. "Are you sure, ma' am? After cancellation, you' ll be untraceable in the domestic system."

I nodded, my resolve hardening. "I' m sure."

From now on, there would be no Eleanor Vance in this city.

Liam Vance, as you wished, I am completely exiting your "little family' s" world.